Friday, 30 June 2017

Esalen Institute

Conference center and hot springs resort in Big Sur, California. Since the early sixties, the Esalen Institute has held many seminars on various esoteric topics, and has been a nexus of many various individuals. Topics explored at the Institute include psychology, gesalt therapy, body work, psychic phenomena, mysticism, religion, psychedelics, human potentiality, and quantum physics.

The Institute was founded in 1964 by Mike Murphy and Dick Price out of Murphy's family resort. Murphy and Price had been running seminars at the resort beginning in 1962, with speakers gathered through an expanding network of contacts, beginning with Alan Watts, Aldous Huxley, George Bateson, Gerald Heard, and others.

(see Anderson, Walter Truett, The Upstart Spring, Addison-Wesley Publishing, 1983 for an expansive history of Esalen)

Joe K. Adams and Dell Carson led an early conference on psychic phenomena. (Anderson, pg 59). In their first seminar on Human Potentiality, led by Willis Harman, every program leader was involved with LSD research: Adams, Harman, Gregory Bateson, Gerald Heard, Paul Kurtz, andMyron Stolaroff. (Anderson, pg 72)

Other drug-culture luminaries, such as Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, taught at Esalen, and various psychedlics were used by the staff and students, although drug-use was not officially endorsed. Strangely, the Institute was never raided by the authorities. (Anderson, pg 108)

Charles Manson and members of his family played an impromptu concert at Esalen three days before their massacre at the Sharon Tate house. (Anderson, 239)

In the late 1970's, Esalen became involved with an Englishwoman named Jenny O'Connor, who claimed to be in psychic contact with the Nine (probably the same Nine that Andriah Puharichclaimed to be in contact with). Dick Price and other members of the Esalen staff became increasingly dependent on the Nine, to the point of listing them as program leaders and members of the Esalen Gesalt Staff in brochures. (Anderson, pg 302-4)

In the 1970's, Mike Murphy became interested in Russian parapsychology, and visited the country to meet experimenters in this field. This led to a close connection between Esalen and some Russian officials, who set up an exchange program. Lasting into the 1980's, this exchange was dubbed "hot-tub diplomacy". John Mack was reportedly involved in this exchange.

Esalen also held seminars in quantum physics, and was the birthplace of the Physics/Consciousness Research Group. Some results of these seminars are documented in Zukav, Gary, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, Morrow Quill, 1979.

In May 1982, Elisabeth and Russell Targ held a workshop on psychic phenomena for twenty-five professionals. This was part of a program with Stanislav Grof, who was studying non-chemical alternatives for altered states of consciousness. The Targs goal was to show that psychic experiences did not require an altered state.

"I'll never admit to raping that woman, even if it lessens my time in here, because I just didn't do it.

However, there are about 5-7 other things I've done in my life which are far worse than that for which I am in prison for, so I feel I'm in the right place."

"Minister Louis Farrakhan comments on the Church of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard and dianetics during public address titled, "All Is Vanity" at the Nation of Islam's headquarters Mosque Maryam in Chicago, IL., July 1, 2012. "

"Minister Farrakhan explains the benefits of Dianetics and why it's essential to the healing process in a world like this."

Listen

to what Manson says about what he was involved with concerning the Nation of Islam, Dianetics and The Process Church of Final Judgement and the plans/respsonse by "The Establishment", in California, in the prison system, in the 1950s (High MK-Ultra Era)

Because it's very important.

Then go and research some more on Attica (in '71), and what life was like inside American Prisons prior to 1970 - there was no segregation/race war, that's for damn sure...

Thencompare that to what Minister Louis Farrakhan (or Will Smith, for that matter) will say about Dianetics now...

Wednesday, 18 February 2015

" A few months later, an English witch, Sybil Leek, was standing on the deck of a Dutch ocean liner sailing to the United States A pleated chiffon scarf wrapped around her brown, frizzy hair billowed in the wind like a swirling sorcerers hat rocking her hulking frame back and forth in gold sandals with red tics looped between fleshy toes, she was an unforgettable sight to the other passengers-all 275 pounds of her Green mascara dripped from her eyes, snake bracelets curled up her chunky arms, and a crystal pendant heaved up and down on her enormous bosom.

The high priestess of world witchcraft, as she referred to herself, was traveling with a young niece and a live snake.

She was the weirdest woman I ever saw in my life," said Virginia Lehman, one of the passengers. She introduced herself as a witch and said she was head of the European witches coven She talked casually about casting spells, incantations, goats feet, herbal brews, and the Devil She said she followed only white witchcraft-that is, witchcraft for good, not evil. She was very much against black magic and selling your soul to the Devil for money. She said she had recently moved from England and was now living in southern California.

"My daughter and I were absolutely fascinated so we stood there talking to her for a long time.

She asked me if I had ever heard of Ronald Reagan, who had been elected governor of California "

`Sure,' l said.

l'm his astrologer,' said the witch

"Really?"

"'I'm the one who told him he had to be inaugurated right after midnight facile west in a pan of the capitol that had never been used For a swearing-in before'

"You mean the television actor?"

"Mark my words," said the witch. "You're going to hear a great deal about him in the future. He's going to be a very important man"

l didn't pay much attention to that part of the conversation because I wasn't a big Ronald Reagan fan and I wasnt from California so I could not have cared less that the governor believed in witchcraft. I was more interested in what Sybil Leek was feeding her snake..." "

"Initially, Operation [MK-]OFTEN was a joint CIA/Army Chemical Corps drug project, based out of Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and using inmates of the Holmesburg State Prison in Philadelphia as test subjects. It came under the aegis of the CIA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD), which was concerned with parapsychology and the application of supernatural powers for military purposes. 6Later, OFTEN would become a kind of grab bag of CIA investigations into the paranormal, and would include everything from séances and witchcraft to remote viewing and exotic drugs. Agents of Operation OFTEN would consult with such occult luminaries as Sybil Leek, the famous English witch who was interviewed constantly in the late 1960s on radio and television talk shows, and who had published a few books on the occult, astrology and associated themes. Although the CIA had been investigating ESP and the paranormal, and infiltrating occult groups, since 1952, when Andrija Puharich began contact with The Nine, someone at the CIA evidently felt that the occult underground in 1969 might have access to special techniques for the manipulation of consciousness and memory, and they took to their study with renewed vigor.

######

You may remember Sybil Leek from the "Final Events" book - according to which, she allegedly channeled a demon for US intelligence personnel, to answer questions on the UFO phenomenon (note: Final Events was published after a Warm Gun, but Leek's work for Operation OFTEN was well established before now).

#####

In April of 1969, Bruce Davis had just returned to California and the sticky embrace of the Manson Family after having spent more than five months with either the Scientologists, the Process, or both. His lengthy mission in England is still a mystery, as is the funding for this junket. Documents seized by the US Government after a raid on Scientology headquarters in 1977 show considerable anxiety over the alleged connection between the Manson Family and Scientology; the Scientologists sent emissaries to try to find Steve Grogan (who was later convicted of the murder of Donny Shea), a Family member who had information concerning Manson’s Scientology background (they were unsuccessful). Then, an informant came to them with information on Manson’s 150 hours of Scientology auditing sessions in prison. The picture painted is frightening, for it shows a Manson at turns extremely enthusiastic about his training… and terrified to the point of demanding to be put into solitary confinement so he could escape his auditor.

#####

--- Quote ---Manson consciously used the drug as a tool in his arsenal, along with sex. In one instance, he told an interviewer that he would make a woman exhausted with physical work before he would have sex with her, so that she was in no mood to have sex at all. Then he would approach her and gradually work on her until the point where she began to respond to his sexual ministrations; at that point, Manson believed he had control of her mind and could convince her to do anything. That combination of sex and drugs and a kind of perverse operant conditioning are the basic working parts of what Ed Sanders calls “The Manson Secret.” It was what CIA psychiatrist Ewen Cameron was working on until virtually the day he died, except that Manson was much more successful. As documented in The Nine, Cameron created zombies; Manson created assassins

--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---A few nights before the Tate slaughter there was a strange event at the house on Cielo Drive. A dope dealer from Canada was punished for selling Jay Sebring bad dope. According to actor Dennis Hopper, twenty-five people were invited to watch the dealer get whipped and to participate in the whipping. They videotaped the event, as they had other events involving—again, according to Hopper—“sadism, masochism and bestiality.” Hopper claims that LA police informed him about some of this information. The tapes have never surfaced, but rumors in the Hollywood underground have always insisted that they exist. Some say that the LAPD has them in a safe place, much like J. Edgar Hoover’s famous “secret files,” to be used when necessary to coerce or persuade a celebrity to cooperate. This event cannot be considered in isolation from the Tate killings. According to Hopper, the public humiliation of the dealer took place three days before the murders at Cielo Drive, which would make it on or about August 5th. Manson had complained to Gary Hinman about a bad batch of mescaline on July 26th. The burn was worth two thousand dollars. Hinman was killed. Hairstylist to the stars (and former lover of Sharon Tate) Jay Sebring had complained about getting burned to the tune of the same two thousand dollars. He would die in the Tate house. Only the type of drug is in question: was Sebring talking about cocaine or mescaline? According to Ed Sanders, Sebring’s burn—and the subsequent whipping of the drug dealer—involved cocaine. That there were two dope burns for the same amount of money in each case, less than two weeks apart, is probably coincidence; but it got Gary Hinman murdered, got a dope dealer whipped on Cielo Drive in front of twenty-five eyewitnesses including many celebrities, and led up to the horrific murders in the same house only three days later.

--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---Maury Terry raises an important point in his observation of the killings, one which cannot be easily ignored: if Helter Skelter was the true motive, then why did the killings stop after La Bianca?

There was no evidence linking the Manson clan to any of the killings; they were still in the clear on Tate and La Bianca, although Bobby Beausoleil had been picked up for the Hinman murder. They could have continued their Helter Skelter murder spree much longer before being stopped. Why only that one weekend in August? Why only the five victims at the Tate house (six, if you count Sharon Tate’s unborn son) and two at La Bianca?

The only reason that makes sense is that both murders were contract hits, and that Manson dressed it up in Helter Skelter for the benefit of his young female assassins. (It is presumed that Tex Watson knew of the real motive, or had a suspicion anyway, as it was he who drove the car to the Tate residence specifically; it was not a random selection.) Helter Skelter was Manson’s “program” for the brainwashed murderers; it provided a context, and it also influenced their choice of bloody graffiti at each scene, thus laying the crimes off on the Black Panthers. For Manson, it was two birds with one stone, so to speak. He could spread the evil message of Helter Skelter while meanwhile getting paid—in some form, since money seemed to be in short supply in the days immediately preceding and succeeding the murders—by the drug dealing establishment to rid them of some problems.

--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---Then there was a substantial rumor pointing to what Ed Sanders calls a “voodoo cult” operating from Jamaica. Polanski went down to Jamaica to check it out, and again came up empty. The Jamaican angle is interesting because Canadian drug dealer Billy Doyle, who was beaten at the Tate house only days before the killings, was known to have flown drugs into the United States from Jamaica specifi- cally. The idea was that Doyle had arranged the killings as retribution for the treatment he received on Cielo Drive, and contracted a cult of killers from Jamaica to do the deed. This only fits what we know of the crime if we maintain that the Jamaican cult then sub-contracted the hit to a known local cult, the Manson Family. There is no evidence to support this, of course, and one suspects it would have been easier for Doyle to go direct to Manson with the contract.--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---Manson himself has said that the real motive behind the Tate killings would never be revealed (by him), but that it was so explosive it would rock the establishment.--- End quote ---

--- Quote ---These were either contract hits, taken on by Manson for reasons undisclosed to this time, or we have to believe that they were the opening salvos in Manson’s dream of igniting a race war. If the latter, then why did the high-profile murders suddenly stop? While many more murders were committed in the days and weeks to follow, they were low-profile attacks on members of the Family who knew too much… or on Scientologists for some strange reason also yet to be divulged.--- End quote ---

Israel’s efforts to alleviate poverty and develop local economies in Africa is noble yet it needs to do more, Irish singer-activist Bob Geldof said at a conference on Israel and Africa held in Herzliya on Sunday.

The former Boomtown Rats front man, known for his role in fighting poverty in Africa, addressed hundreds of people at the event organized by the relief group IsraAid with the help of the Melbourne-based Pratt Foundation.

“There’s something noble about the fact that Israel, a country born in misery and suffering, aspires to assist Africa,” Geldof said. “The Israeli government needs to start spreading resources to support friends that would assist us down the road. Israel has agriculture, hi-tech and information that are needed in Africa now. They need Africa.”

Geldof said the unsolved conflicts between Israel and the Palestinians and other neighbors need not preclude the Jewish state from reaching out to the impoverished continent.

“I know we’re preoccupied with our problems in the region, but just because you’re stuck in the gutters doesn’t mean you can’t watch the stars,” he said.

Hundreds of people attended the conference, which examined the sometimes complicated ties between Israel and Africa. The participants included several prominent Israeli figures with connections to the continent.

“We had journalist Itai Engel and singer Idan Raichel, who spoke about their experiences in Africa, as well as people from [Israeli drip irrigation company] Netafim who spoke about the vast amount of cooperation and work in Western and Eastern Africa,” IsraAid head Shachar Zahavi said. “We brought our lawyer from Rwanda talking about partnership with the Hebrew University on human rights and refuge.”

Most attendees at the Daniel Hotel were too young to remember the golden age of Israel in Africa. Back in the 1950s and ’60s, the Jewish state was one of the biggest per capita providers in the world of aid to developing countries – at one point second only to France. An extensive network of Israeli technical advisers and agricultural experts fanned out across Africa, cultivating ties with new nations that, like Israel, had only just gained independence from colonial rule.

Yehuda Paz, chairman of the Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development and one of the speakers at Sunday’s conference, was one of those Israeli advisers.

“Every aid project has a political element and a financial one,” the 80-year-old Brooklyn- born resident of Kibbutz Kissufim said. “These are worthy things, but that’s not why Israel got involved in Africa.

“First, it had to do with what Israel should be in the eyes of the world. It’s hard to understand today, but Prime Minister Ben-Gurion wanted to show the world we were founded on mutual aid and justice. We thought that after 2,000 years Israel will be based on values, not just interests,” Paz said.

“Second, Israel was seen as an example in the fields of agricultural and rural development.

Third, Israel was a leader in the cooperative movement with hundreds of thousands of members worldwide as well as in the labor union movement.”

In 1974, however, relations soured significantly. In the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the majority of sub-Saharan countries sided with the Arab states and severed ties with Israel. A feeling of betrayal has lingered and Israeli aid to Africa has never returned to its pre-war levels.

“It was terrible and was caused by two things,” Paz said. “First, the oil crisis; the Arabs used oil as a weapon and the prices skyrocketed to $20 [a barrel]. The Arabs promised aid to African countries, but they never fulfilled their promise. The second was the political power of the Non- Aligned countries.”

During those years, Israel also strengthened its ties with apartheid South Africa, partly as a reaction to its treatment by the rest of the continent, creating yet more tension with sub-Saharan states. Still, Israeli experts never entirely left the region.

“The now defunct Afro-Asian Institute I headed had ties with 50 countries including in Africa all that time,” Paz said. “In later years most African leaders admitted they had made a mistake cutting ties with Israel. I know several leaders of African states who not only personally expressed regret but some of them even expressed shame.”

Israel is now increasing its involvement in the continent through several projects, albeit not on the same scale as in the past.

“Africa as you know is undergoing a great boom, it is slowly accelerating its economic development although Israeli involvement there isn’t always beneficial – but that’s another issue,” Paz said. “One has to remember that less than 1 percent of Israel’s imports and less than 5% of its exports are with Africa.”

One factor motivating greater Israeli involvement in Africa is that the continent’s problems are now showing up on its own doorstep. In recent years a growing number of people from Sudan, Eritrea and other African countries have illegally entered Israel seeking work and refuge. But solving that problem might be beyond Israel’s capacity, Paz said.

“For Israel to stop migration it needs to be an impoverished nation,” he said. ”You have to understand there are a billion people in the world who live on less than a dollar a day. One person in eight is hungry. It’s not that they aren’t eating enough steak, they’re starving. They have no future, no hope for their children and they will do everything they can to give them hope.”

Bob Geldof has become the poster boy for the JNF (Jewish National Fund) by declaring that "The JNF Got it Over 100 years Ago" and that he "told everyone how the JNF & Israel understood the idea of sustainability & the importance of water - from the beginning". This is yet another strategy used by the JNF to cloak its crimes against the Palestinians. The Fund is a multi-national organisation with offices in about a dozen countries. It receives millions of dollars from donors around the world, most of which are tax-exempt.

The JNF has illegally expropriated most of the land belonging to the 372 Palestinian villages which had been ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces in 1948. The owners of this land and their descendants today constitute over half of the UN-registered Palestinian refugees. Today the JNF controls over 2,500 sq.km. of Palestinian land, which it leases to Jews only, as well as bulldozing more Palestinian villages. It also planted 100 parks on Palestinian land, especially to disguise destroyed Palestinian villages, such as the wood "God TV" planted on the village of El Araqib, which has been repeatedly destroyed in 2011-2012.

In addition, the JNF has a long record of discrimination against Palestinian citizens of Israel, as reported by the UN. The Fund has also extended its range by directly or by proxy operating in the occupied West Bank [including occupied East Jerusalem]. All this is in clear violation of International Law and particularly of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which forbids confiscation of property and the settling of the occupier's citizens on occupied land.

Ethnic cleansing, expropriation of property and destruction of houses are war crimes. Moreover, the use of tax-exempt donations to these ends violates the JNF is domiciled.

JNF greenwashing (by planting trees of on stolen land) must be condemned. The Fund's crimes do not deserve to be praised. This is our moral responsibility towards Palestinians who have been discriminated against and denied their basic human rights from the 1948 Al-Nakba (Catastrophe) until the present.

"The sex game cover is a very useful mechanism in a murder. Not only does it provide a disguise for the actual means and method of death, it trashes the reputation of the victim and blunts the energy of any subsequent investigation."Crispin Black - former government intelligence adviser

Prozac Package Insert : ADVERSE REACTIONS - "Male and female sexual dysfunction with SSRIs— Although changes in sexual desire, sexual performance, and sexual satisfaction often occur as manifestations of a psychiatric disorder, they may also be a consequence of pharmacologic treatment. In particular, some evidence suggests that SSRIs can cause such untoward sexual experiences. Reliable estimates of the incidence and severity of untoward experiences involving sexual desire, performance, and satisfaction are difficult to obtain, however, in part because patients and physicians may be reluctant to discuss them. Accordingly, estimates of the incidence of untoward sexual experience and performance, cited in product labeling, are likely to underestimate their actual incidence.

"In a July 1998 interview that appeared in a fan newsletter, Colin Diamond, Hutchence's attorney and former executor of his estate, was asked about the vocalist's September 1996 opium bust and his defense that the narcotic was planted by police.

"Perhaps you should try and figure it out for yourself!", Diamond snapped. "Got off, GOT OFF?? I think the question should be who tried to get him on!

Peaches Geldof inquest told she hid heroin in sweet box Peaches Geldof's husband Tom Cohen says the 25-year-old presenter had started using heroin again in February this year as inquest hears there was no evidence she intended to take her own life

The fatal heroin dose that killed Peaches Geldof was discovered in a box containing sweets, an inquest has heard.

The 25-year-old mother of two was found dead in April in the spare bedroom of her home in Kent, with her 11-month old son Phaedra, close by in another room. Having successfully beaten her heroin addiction several months before, the inquest heard she had begun using again in February this year.

Police who searched the house after her death discovered almost seven grams of high purity heroin worth around £550 hidden in a cloth bag in a cupboard.

Elsewhere they also found almost 80 needles and a number of burnt spoons, used by addicts to prepare the drug for injection.

The syringe containing the fatal dose was discovered in a cardboard box next to the bed containing sweets.

Miss Geldof’s own mother, Paula Yates died of a heroin overdose in 2000 and the hearing heard how on the night before her death, she had posted a picture of herself as a child with her late mother on a social networking page, with the message: “Me and my mum.”

At the full inquest into her tragic death, the coroner for North West Kent, Roger Hatch, said Miss Geldof had been a regular heroin user, but had been successfully receiving treatment and had been free of the drug just four months before her death.

Her husband, Thomas Cohen, who discovered her body, told the inquest that in November 2013, routine tests had indicated that she was free of heroin.

He said she had also been working to reduce her dose of the heroin substitute, Methadone, prescribe to addicts. But in February this year Mr Cohen said he had found messages on her phone, suggesting she had resumed her use of the drug.

After confronting her he said she had retrieved a quantity of heroin from the loft of their home and had flushed it down the lavatory.

The inquest heard how her tolerance to the effects of heroin would have been much reduced during the period when she was no longer using and that, combined with the high 61 per cent purity of the narcotics found, would have contributed to the fatal overdose.

Describing the scene at the four-bedroom house in Wrotham, Kent, Detective Chief Inspector Paul Fotheringham, told the inquest in Gravesend, Miss Geldof had been found in a spare room, which was often used by her or her husband when they wanted to share a bed with one of their children.

DCI Fotheringham said: “Peaches was wearing a grey dress and a long sleeved striped top. Peaches was located perched on the side edge of the bed with her left arm hanging down to the floor with her right foot tucked underneath her.

“She was slumped forward onto her front with her left arm draped over an open laptop computer “Underneath Peaches body was an Apple iPhone, a packet of cigarettes and a pair of black tights with a knot tied into them. Also on the bed was a small clear coloured cap thought to have come from a syringe.

“Underneath the bed a dessert spoon was located with visible burn marks on the underside and a small amount of a brown residue on the upper side.

“Next to the bed and within reaching distance of Peaches was an open brown cardboard box containing sweets; a capped syringe was located in this box

“It was noted that there was a small amount of a brown fluid left in the main chamber and another small amount of residue/fluid inside the cap.

“This residue was tested by Forensic scientists who have confirmed that the brown residue found does contain traces of diamorphine, which is commonly known as heroin.”

DCI Fotheringham added: “Detailed searches of the whole premises took place and located heroin and various items used for the preparation and consumption of heroin.

“The major discovery in the second of four bedrooms was a black cloth bag stored in a cupboard over the bedroom door.

“Located within this cloth bag was part of a plastic bag tied together by a dark hair band, the bag contained a brown powder. This powder was later examined by a Forensic Scientist Dr Peter Cain. “He confirmed that the brown powder was 6.91 grams of Diamorphine, more commonly known as Heroin with a purity of 61 per cent.”

The inquest was told that street heroin usually has a purity level of around 26 per cent.

DCI Fotheringham said there was an ongoing police investigation to establish who had supplied Miss Geldof with the heroin but no arrests had been made.

The inquest heard there was no evidence that Miss Geldof had intended to take her own life.

Summing up the findings, Mr Hatch said: “It is said that the death of Peaches Geldof is history repeating itself."This is not entirely so as by November last year she had ceased to take heroin as a result of the considerable treatment and counselling she had received."“This was a significant achievement for her. For reasons we will never know, prior to her death she returned to taking heroin again.“I am left with no alternative than to record that the death of Peaches Honeyblossom Cohen-Geldof was drugs related. May I express my sympathies to the family.”Mr Cohen left the inquest without comment.

Tuesday, 29 July 2014

Peaches was the best baby ever - since Fifi. She was talking at eight months and loved Vivaldi, although now she likes opera as well and has a funky streak." - Paula Yates, The Autobiography, 1995

How Paula was killed:

The television presenter Paula Yates died of a heroin overdose in a "foolish and incautious" binge after having apparently overcome her drug problem, an inquest found yesterday.

The coroner, Paul Knapman, said the amount she snorted would not have killed an addict, but as "an unsophisticated taker of heroin" Miss Yates had no tolerance to the drug.

Recording a verdict of death by non-dependent abuse of drugs, he told the court: "The evidence does not point to this being a deliberate act of suicide. It seems most improbable that she would attempt to kill herself with her daughter in the house. Her behaviour was foolish and incautious."

The last adult to see her was a former heroin addict she had met at the Priory clinic, but her four-year-old daughter Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily, whose father Michael Hutchence died three years ago, was alone with her when she died.

Pathologist Iain West told the court he had found morphine in her blood, but no trace of alcohol or other illegal drugs.

"The powerful narcotic drug depressed the cells of the brain which basically stopped her breathing," he said.

This is unambiguous - she was killed by a Morphine overdose. As an "unsophisticated taker of heroin".

Meaning, she wasn't a heroin addict, and it wasn't heroin that killed her.

She was put down like a dog with a massive shot of morphine, which stopped her breathing.

Tuesday, 22 July 2014

The initial inquest, which lasted just ten minutes, heard Peaches' husband Tom Cohen discovered the body of his wife after entering the property with his mother.

He found Peaches slumped forward on a bed in a spare room with one leg on the floor.

"When I presented the case to people from different professions, the reaction was the same: buried face down did not appear to be culturally acceptable. Buried face upwards, on the side, or sitting was accepted, but face down was unthinkable."

Q: What about things like Scientology

Manson: I was in prison when Dianetics first started in 1950.

A lot of the guys were interested in studying ways to process the mind [in order] to clear it from past confusion – to resurrect the soul and be reborn within yourself.

That’s where Scientology started. Then, they started selling it. Then it got to be The Process Church of the Final Judgment [in England].

Q: I guess we don’t know the answer to that but [are you a Satanist]?

Manson: Satan? What is that? They’ve got guys play-acting that for the public. What is a Satanist?

No.

I’m too stupid for any of that… You don’t lay with the snake, because the snake is going to eat you sooner or later."

Archaeologists have excavated over 600 bodies from around the world, mysteriously buried face-down. Britain is the biggest hotspot – with more than 200 prone burials. What do they signify? Caroline Arcini of Sweden’s National Heritage Board has been investigating.

It was February 2005 and archaeologists were once again going to open Viking graves at Vannhög, a village in South Scania, Sweden. As a physical anthropologist, I was to be given the chance to carry out a comprehensive study of the human remains and what they could tell us. Looking at the records of earlier excavations in the 1950s, I noticed in a photo that one of the individuals was buried face down (prone), lying in the grave in a position like a frightened spider. Why?

Was this an exceptional case, or were there several buried in this position? Might an anthropological examination of the skeleton reveal special circumstances that could shed light on the cause of this type of burial?

But why did I react as if there was something wrong with this position? Why did I not accept this as one burial position among others? When I presented the case to people from different professions, the reaction was the same: buried face down did not appear to be culturally acceptable. Buried face upwards, on the side, or sitting was accepted, but face down was unthinkable.

Was this a unique case, I wondered, or were there others?

Searching the literature, I found that this Vannhög Viking was far from unique. However, although prone burials have been observed in archaeological contexts for more than a hundred years, there have been very few attempts to synthesise the data. That is probably the reason archaeologists often still think that prone burials are very unusual.

Inspired by the American anthropologist Heizer, who recognised the need for a major survey as long ago as the 1940s, I began a systematic literature search to catalogue prone burials from all over the world. I soon found that the practice has been around for a very long time. The earliest known case of prone burial, 26,000 years ago, was found in the Czech Republic, while the most recent, from early 20th century Flanders, was a grave from the First World War.

Who was buried face down?

The results of my literature review show that men, women, and children were buried face down, but men were in the majority. The practice occurs in single graves, double graves, and burials with multiple individuals. In double graves, both the individuals could be buried face down, but it is equally common for one body to be prone and the other supine (face up). The same applies to multiple burials and those where the individuals are placed on top of each other in the same grave.

How common is the practice?

In many cases, the prone burials are in isolated graves, but in certain periods and places we find concentrations. For Europe, there is a cluster during the Roman period and up to the end of the Viking Age, from approximately AD 43 to AD 1000. In some places, nearly 15% of the graves contain people buried face down. In one of the Viking burial grounds on the island of Gotland, Sweden, around 13% of individuals were buried this way.

However, c.1000 BC in Mexico and in El Salvador, Central America, there are sites where the proportion of prone burials is as high as 90%. Likewise, on the island of Taiwan in Asia, there are burial places dated between c.1300 BC and AD 850 with the same high frequency as in Mexico.

Although this survey cannot claim to be fully comprehensive, it does show that prone burials have been discovered in at least 215 cemeteries throughout the world, and over 600 individuals are known to have been buried in this way.

What do prone burials have in common?

In places with several prone burials, they are often found together in groups within the cemetery. In many cases, they are concentrated towards the edge. The graves are often shallow. The majority are buried without a coffin, and in periods where grave goods are included in the funerary custom, it is common for those buried face down to have none. In other cases, the circumstances are ‘normal’ – except for being face down, the ‘prones’ are treated in the same way as everyone else.

Several authors have interpreted the Hiram legend of the Third Masonic Degree in solar terms, with the three rufians and the three days that he lays in his rough grave as symbols of the three winter months, between the time that the sun dies at the winter solstice and the spring equinox. You will note that after several failed attempts at "raising" the master, he is sucessfully raised by the "grip of a Lion's paw".In a solar legend, this of course refers to the fact that the sun rules Leo, signified by a lion; and is associated with the heart and solar plexus. The sun is in the sign of Leo in late July and August, the hottest time of the year in the Northern Hemisphere.The following is an illustration taken from page 80 of Albert Pike's "Morals and Dogma", which features not only the grip, but also the X on the solar plexus, the sun center of the human body.

Hiram

It has been recommended that the similarity of the language of the raising of the Kundalini and the raising of the dead Master Hiram (as the symbol of the Spirit trapped or buried in the physical body) in the third of the Blue Degrees in Masonry, indicates that the story being told is the same alchemical story.Consider this passage from Albert Pike's Morals and Dogma, his commentary on the 32nd degree of the Scottish Rite, entitled the Sublime Prince of the Royal Secret or Master of the Royal Secret:"The Royal Secret.. is that which the Sohar terms the Mystery of the Balance. It is the Secret of Universal Equilibrium...man is one, though of a double nature; and he attains the purpose of his being only when the two natures that are in him are in just equilibrium...from the action and opposition of each against the other, result Harmony, and that MOVEMENT which is the Life of the Universe and the Soul alike."The science of arousing the Kundalini is known as Pranayama; and the primal point in the exercises of Pranayama is the arousing of Rythmic Vibration by means of controlled breathing, often times in conjunction with mantra meditation.Recall the story in the Royal Arch myths about the search for the True Word of a Master mason; reflect on the significance of the word "Aoum" (Aum/Om), a symbolic "Holy Word" signifying The Absolute Idea (of the Deity); and remember the names of the "ruffians" who killed Hiram Abiff in the ceremonies of the Blue Degrees; JubelA, JubelO, JubelUM- A-O-UM.

Death, Burial and Resurrectionin the Masonic Lodge

Most professing Christians who are members of the Masonic Order have no idea that what actually transpires during the Hiramic Legend of the Master Mason degree is the new member’s baptism into the religion of Freemasonry.

The new member, called a candidate, is neither sprinkled nor immersed; there is no water involved in the ceremony. Perhaps this is why professing Christians who are members of the Order don’t recognize the ceremony as being what it actually is. For most, when they hear of baptism, they seem to automatically think of a sprinkling of water, or total immersion in a baptismal font. Perhaps this is the reason for the obvious question that comes to the minds of most Christians who are outside the lodge: "How can you possibly have something called a baptism, without water?" The answer is very simple, yet it is also complex.

Symbolism and allegory are the keys to understanding Freemasonry. They are the keys to understanding the baptism of the candidate that is exemplified by his symbolic death, burial, and resurrection as he is supposedly portraying a person by the name of Hiram Abif during an acted out drama that is admittedly a trumped up chain of events that never happened in the first place.

To help us in our endeavors to better understand the allegories and symbolisms of the Hiramic Legend, there are a few words that should be defined. I have used the dictionary of the ‘World Book Encyclopedia’ as a reference, which is a Thorndike-Barnhart Dictionary, published exclusively for Field Enterprises Educational Corporation. When a different source is used, I will so indicate.

Resurrection definedResurrection is defined as being:

"a coming to life again; rising from the dead." A second definition given for this word is, "a being alive again after death."

Baptism definedThe definition of baptism is,

"the act of baptizing; rite or sacrament of dipping a person into water or sprinkling water on him, as a sign of the washing away of sin and of admission into the Christian church."

This is the definition of the word, baptism, that most of us who are Christians think of, thus the confusion about the "waterless" baptism performed by the Masonic Order. However, look very closely at this second definition of the word, from the same dictionary:

"any experience that cleanses a person, or introduces him into a new kind of life."

As you can see, the scope of baptism, particularly outside of the Christian church, has now been broadened with this second definition of the word.

I would like to quote from an additional source, regarding the definition of baptism as it pertains to at least one major Christian denomination of the body of Christ. From the Report of Committee on Baptist Faith and Message, as adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention on May 9, 1963, we find this:

"Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership…..".

Here it is clearly spelled out that the baptism a Christian believer undergoes is symbolic of the believer’s death, burial, and resurrection, "..to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus."

Note the similarity between this definition and the second definition of the word previously quoted, which also speaks of being introduced into "…a new kind of life".

Salvation definedThe word, salvation, is defined for us as being,

"a saving of the soul; deliverance from sin and from punishment for sin."

Of course, we must define Freemasonry, in order that we may more fully understand what it is we are dealing with, and in all fairness to the Order, I think we should allow Freemasonry to offer up its own definition. The Heirloom Bible Publishers, Wichita, Kansas, publishes a Master Reference Edition of the Holy Bible, King James Version, exclusively for Freemasonry. As far as I have been able to ascertain, its primary distributor to lodges and individual members is the Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company. On page 26 of this Heirloom Masonic bible, we find the following:

"Freemasonry has been well defined as, ‘A peculiar system of morality veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols’."

And because of this definition of Freemasonry, we are necessarily brought to the definition of the word, allegory:

"a long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself."

Bearing all this in mind, let us now take a look at what transpires within a Masonic lodge room, as a new member, called a "candidate", undergoes the three degrees of Blue Lodge Masonry. This "walk through", by the way, including the legendary portrayal we will be into shortly, is as per Nevada’s blue lodge ritual, which is where I was a Mason.

An overview of ritualThe degrees are named as follows: The first degree is called Entered Apprentice; the second degree is Fellow Craft; and the third degree is Master Mason.

The Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees, mechanically, are pretty much in "lock-step" with each other. The lessons and teachings covered in each of these degrees is different, one from the other, but the mechanics are basically the same. In each of these degrees, the candidate dons the required clothing, which includes a blindfold; he enters the lodge room and is conducted around the lodge room for inspection; he kneels at an altar to assume an obligation; his blindfold is removed; he is invested with certain signs, grips, and words; he proves to the principal officers that he can properly communicate said signs, grips, and words, he is presented, emblematically, with the Working Tools of the degree; he is led from the lodge room so he can change into his regular clothing; and he is then returned to the lodge room for further instruction, by way of a lecture.

In the Master Mason degree, however, once the candidate has undergone procedures somewhat similar to what he experiences in the Entered Apprentice and Fellow Craft degrees, but before he receives instruction by way of a lecture, which he will hear later, he finds himself in a very different situation. After donning his own clothing, rather than returning to the lodge room for instruction, by way of a lecture, he is returned to the south side of the lodge room and escorted to the empty chair which is the station of the Junior Warden, one of the three principal officers of the lodge.

He is given a ruse of an explanation that he will be sitting in the station of the Junior Warden, as an honorary sort of thing, in celebration of his having become a Master Mason. The jewel of the Junior Warden is hung around his neck, and he is shown a very simple procedure he is to follow when the Worshipful Master raps his gavel, signaling the members present that lodge has resumed. His instructions are to stand the gavel that is resting on the stand in front of him, to an upright position, signifying that lodge has returned from refreshments to labor (in other words, signifying that the short recess period called for the purpose of allowing him time to get back into his regular clothes is now over with).

The Worshipful Master raps his gavel; the candidate leans forward and places the Junior Warden’s gavel in the upright position; then he sits back to enjoy the celebration of his achievement, or so he thinks.

However, the Worshipful Master raps his gavel a second time, looks to the candidate and says, "Brother Junior Warden, what is the hour?". The candidate stands up, but he is usually very confused at this point, because he has no idea what the meaning of the question is. The Worshipful Master raps his gavel again and repeats, "Brother Junior Warden, what is the hour?".

Now the Senior Warden rises and says, "Worshipful Master, there appears to be a stranger in the South."

The Worshipful Master says, "What?! A stranger in the South?! Brother Senior Deacon, conduct the stranger to the East."

The candidate is then brought before the Worshipful Master who tells him: Even though he has been obligated as a Master Mason; even though he has received the Working Tools of a Master Mason, including the proper use of the Trowel, the principal Working Tool of a Master Mason; even though he has been taught to wear his apron as a Master Mason; and even though he now wears the jewel of the Junior Warden, one of the three principal officers of the lodge, he has not yet attained to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. He has not yet proven himself to be a Master Mason.

The Worshipful Master advises him that there is one more hill he must climb, so to speak - one more test he must pass, to demonstrate that he is indeed a Master Mason. He is informed that it is a dangerous way to go, and that he may even meet with death, as did once befall an eminent brother of this degree.

(Please note a similarity at this point, between Christian baptism, and what I refer to as Masonic baptism: I have already quoted from the Southern Baptist statement on baptism that baptism "…, is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership…" In a Masonic lodge room, the Worshipful Master informs the candidate that what he is about to endure is prerequisite to his becoming a Master Mason.)

The Senior Deacon conducts the candidate to the altar, where he is once again blindfolded. He is caused to kneel and pray. He is told that his prayer may be mental or audible, and when he has concluded it, he is to audibly say "Amen", and rise. Upon conclusion of the candidate’s prayer, the Hiramic Legend begins.

The candidate represents Hiram Abif in ritualThe candidate is caused to represent a character named Hiram Abif. Even though there is no historical evidence to back up any part of the "drama" that is about to unfold, it is explained to the candidate, or initiate, that Grand Master Hiram Abif was the Grand Architect at the building of King Solomon’s Temple. Supposedly, Hiram knows some sort of a secret which, by its mere possession, a person would be allowed to pass himself off as a Master Mason, or journeyman builder, if you will, thus allowing him to travel and work in foreign countries, and to receive Masters’ wages.

It had been promised to the workmen on the temple that upon its completion, those who were found worthy would receive the secrets, but three of the Fellow Crafts got a little over anxious and entered into a pact of extorting the secrets which Hiram supposedly held. So, one day Hiram is confronted by these ruffians, demanding the secrets from him. He refuses their demands, and they kill him.

DeathIt is at this point that the candidate, portraying Hiram Abif, experiences part I of the symbolism of baptism - Death.

At midnight, or low-twelve, under the cover of darkness, they remove his body from the temple grounds and take it to the brow of a hill where a grave had already been dug for the purpose, and bury him.

BurialIt is at this point that the candidate, portraying Hiram Abif, experiences part II of the symbolism of baptism - Burial.

The ruffians attempt to flee the country, but they are discovered by three Fellow Crafts who had been sent out in search of them. They are returned to the temple and brought before King Solomon, who is portrayed by the Worshipful Master. They confess their guilt, and are summarily executed.

A new search is launched to find the remains of Hiram Abif. These same three Fellow Crafts return to the brow of the hill where they had come across the ruffians, and there they discover what appears to be a newly made grave. They dig down and find a body. Owing to the high state of decomposition, the body cannot easily be recognized, but the Fellow Crafts remove the jewel from around its neck and carry it back to King Solomon, who identifies it as being the jewel of Grand Master Hiram Abif.

King Solomon then leads a procession to the gravesite, presumably for the purpose of removing the body from the grave and returning it to the temple for more decent interment. Further, he advises the workmen that even though the Master’s Word, which it had been promised they would eventually receive, has now been lost, he will devise a substitute word that will do just fine until the real word is found again.

In a lecture that the candidate is to hear later on, after the conclusion of the Hiramic Legend, he is told that the body of Hiram was indeed removed from the temporary grave and returned to the temple, where it was buried in due form. But that is not what transpires at the gravesite.

Rather, King Solomon orders the Senior Grand Warden (Hiram, king of Tyre) to raise the body by the grip of an Entered Apprentice. The Senior Grand Warden applies that grip to the cadaver, but owing to the high state of decomposition, the skin slips from the flesh, and the body cannot be raised. King Solomon then orders him to apply the grip of a Fellow Craft. He does so - first, with the Pass Grip of a Fellow Craft, and then with the Real Grip of a Fellow Craft - and for the same reasons as before, neither of those grips is strong enough. King Solomon asks, "What shall we do?". And the Senior Grand Warden suggests, "Let us pray.".

The Chaplain then leads all those present in a prayer which concludes with,

"Yet, O Lord, have compassion on the children of Thy creation; administer them comfort in time of trouble, and save them with an everlasting salvation."(Nevada ritual, p. 137)

ResurrectionAfter praying for the salvation of the fallen martyr, King Solomon states how timely the prayer is, and declares that the body will be raised. After determining a substitute word to replace that which was supposedly lost upon the death of Grand Master Hiram Abif, King Solomon informs the craftsmen that the substitute word will be the first word uttered after the body is raised. The Worshipful Master, who up to this time has been portraying King Solomon, then reaches down and grasps the hand of the candidate, who up to this time has supposedly been portraying Hiram Abif, with the real grip of a Master Mason, or lion’s paw. And by the real grip of a Master Mason, the candidate is raised

"from a dead level to a living perpendicular". (Officers’ Manual of Lodge Organization and Operation - Nevada, p. 96) (Note: This is not the terminology that is used during the legend, but I bring this phrase to your attention because you will see it a little later on.)

As the candidate is "raised", he and the Worshipful Master assume the position known as the five points of fellowship; and while in that position, which is foot to foot, knee to knee, breast to breast, hand to back, and cheek to cheek, or mouth to ear, the Worshipful Master whispers the words, "Mah-Ha-Bone" into the ear of the candidate, "Mah-Ha-Bone" being what is called the substitute for the Master’s Word.

And it is at this point, know as "raising", that the candidate symbolically experiences the third and final stage of the symbolism of baptism - Resurrection.

With the exception of explaining to the candidate what the word, "Mah-Ha-Bone" means - "What, the Builder"; and instructing him in the proper use of the Grand Hailing Sign of Distress, this pretty much concludes the second section of the degree.

You know doubt have noticed by now that there is no re-interment. No body is returned to the temple for the purpose of burying it in due form, because at this point, there is no body. The purpose of the Hiramic Legend is NOT the re-enactment of some nonsensical fairy tale with a moral attached to it, much like an Aesop’s Fable. The REAL intended purpose of the entire staged production, this "allegory illustrated by symbols", is just exactly what is symbolized - the death, burial, and resurrection of the candidate, that symbolism being exactly the same as is done by immersion in the baptismal font of a Christian church.

The candidate, "representing" Hiram Abif, has not been initiated into a fraternity. Rather, the candidate, representing no one but himself, has been baptized into "the religious faith of Freemasonry". (Remember that phrase. You will be encountering it again.)

Why do those who profess to be Christians not realize what it is that is happening to them at the time? The explanation is quite simple:

Allegory - "a long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself."

Generally, I would say that if an individual has had no discernment up to this point that he is involved in a religion, after undergoing the first degree, the second degree, and the first portion of the third degree, the chances are better than not that it isn’t going to happen during the "raising", or resurrection.

But even if a Christian does realize what it is that is happening, think of his circumstances at the time. Here he is, lying on the floor, surrounded by all these men. At this point, his blindfold has already been removed, and what is he confronted with? Maybe Mr. Johnson, his boss at work, is standing there. Maybe his very best friend is looking down at him. Maybe he is looking at his dad, his grand-dad, his uncle, his brother, standing over him. It would take a tremendous amount of courage on his part to pick himself up off the floor, say to those present, "Hold on, I now realize what is happening here, and because I am a Christian, I will have no part in it"; and then just walk out of the lodge room, leave the premises, and never look back - never come back again. Chances are better than not, you will not see or hear of something like that happening.

Most Masons do not attend Lodge regularly. Why?But I would like to say this much about it. I used to wonder why it was that even though the lodge I was in was doing degree work in one degree or another about 25 nights a year, sometimes more, plus farming out candidates to other lodges on occasion, for five years as an officer in the line, it seemed as though I kept seeing the same old faces on the sideline every night. A few additional ones would show up now and then, but not all that many. And I used to wonder: "After everything a man goes through to become a Master Mason, why would he just all of a sudden, drop out of sight?"

Maybe we have a partial answer after all. I’m not going to try to claim that a delayed discernment happened in every instance. I won’t even try to claim that is the answer in most instances. But maybe, just maybe that is the reason in some of the instances. Maybe the discernment was there that night, but what was lacking was the courage or conviction to do something about it at the time. Or maybe the realization came later, after possibly sharing that evening’s events with a discerning Christian wife. Maybe in some instances, a man shares with his wife what transpired that night, and when he’s finished, he says, "Boy, I’ve sure never been through anything like that before." To which she says, "Oh yes, you have. You certainly did go through something like that before. It was the day you were baptized, when your immersion was symbolic of death, burial and resurrection. You have been baptized by the lodge - into what, I can only guess at - but you have been baptized into Freemasonry."

In any event, he sends his dues money in every year, but just sort of drops out of sight. Unfortunately, just "dropping out of sight" is not an acceptable substitute for repentance, for praying for forgiveness, for asking Jesus Christ to come back into you life as your Lord and Savior, and for officially leaving the false religion of Freemasonry.

I will now solidify what I have had to say about the Hiramic Legend so far, regarding it’s being nothing more than a fairy tale, with evidence to support my claims.

The Grand Lodge of the State of Nevada distributes a booklet entitled, The Lodge System of Masonic Education. On page 4 of the section titled, The Master Mason Degree, we find this:

"The allegory of the Master Mason Degree is not true in any factual sense, except in the historical background from the Biblical account of the building of the Temple. That the Hirams were Grand Masters; that the workmen on the building were Entered Apprentices, Fellow Crafts and Master Masons; that they met in the various apartments of the Temple, with different numbers required for various quorums; that the events depicted in the ceremony actually happened, are not factual statements."

The temple is spiritual, not physicalYou see the word "allegory" here, and you no doubt remember its definition. A little further down the page, we now pick up on the word "symbolism", or "symbolic":

"Q. What is the symbolic meaning of King Solomon’s Temple?

Symbolic interpretations concerning the Temple of Solomon, in all of its aspects, are practically inexhaustible. All rational opinion, however, seems to center on the symbolic representation of Man as a Temple of God."

"Some of the most sublime symbolisms of Freemasonry relate to the building of this spiritual temple under the principles and tenets of Freemasonry, based upon the building of Solomon’s Temple by Operative Masons. These Operative Masons constructed the material temple of stones, cedars, with ornamentations of gold and precious stones, while Freemasons are constructing the spiritual temple of moral, ethical and spiritual virtues."

From the Officers’Manual of Lodge Organization and Operation, from the Grand Lodge of Nevada, page 100:

"The Temple of Solomon is a symbol of perfection; a symbolic representation of man as a temple of God."

With these statements, we not only establish the fact that the Hiramic Legend of the third degree - or Master Mason degree, second section - is a fairy tale; but we also see how, by veiled allegory and symbolism, the construction of the "temple", if you will, is not in reference to the building of King Solomon’s Temple at all, but rather, as was previously quoted:

"Freemasons are constructing the spiritual temple of moral, ethical, and spiritual virtues."

The entire Hiramic Legend, including the involvement of the candidate, has now been taken from a material, historical level, to some sort of a pseudo-spiritual level. A quantum leap - a quantum leap, indeed - for something calling itself a fraternity, isn’t it? Indeed it is. But NOT for a religious faith. And we’ll get to that statement in a moment.

But for now, let’s look at a term we hear so much of, pertaining to the Master Mason degree. In my own testimony I have stated I was "raised" to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason. What exactly does this term "raised" mean?

RaisedThis comes from a ‘Questions and Answers’ section of the Heirloom Masonic Bible previously referred to (p. 55):

"Raised - What is the significance of this term?

A. When a candidate has received the Third Degree, he is said to have been "raised" to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. Literally, this refers to a portion of the ceremony; but more significantly, it refers symbolically to the resurrection, which is exemplified as the object of the degree. See Resurrection".

Now, I want you to remember this notation, "See Resurrection". It is inserted in this item in such a way as to indicate, "Go to the term "resurrection" for the connection to this term, "raised". We’re coming back to this later.

I would like to add here: While coming up short of actually endorsing the Masonic Bible this quote and others, come from, the Grand Secretary of the Grand Lodge of the State of Iowa does say, "…Heirloom Bible would never knowingly publish information in their Bible that was not accurate." This comes from a letter I received from the man, and I have no reason whatever to question his statement. As a matter of fact, I would carry an application of this statement even further. I do not believe the Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company would knowingly distribute a Masonic Bible, or any other Masonic publication, for that matter, that was not deemed by Freemasonry to be accurate.

Nor do I believe the Grand Lodge of Nevada would permit any of its constituent blue lodges to distribute such a publication to their members, knowing it to be in error, and that is how I got my copy. It was a tradition at Vegas Lodge No. 32 that on the evening a candidate was "raised", he was presented with a copy of theHeirloom Masonic Bible, as a gift from the lodge.

And also, before going to any official Grand Lodge publications for statements on this subject, I wish to quote from the Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry’ by Albert G. Mackey, and I do so, at this time, for a reason.

When you attempt to quote passages to Masons, from the writings of highly recommended Masonic writers, such as Albert G. Mackey, Albert Pike, Henry Wilson Coil, and others, regarding their statement that Freemasonry is, indeed, a religion, for example, the lock-step response almost always seems to be, "None of those writings have been officially recognized by any grand lodges, therefore, any statements from such publications are nothing more than the writers’ own personal opinions."

All right, let’s takes a look at Mr. Mackey’s "personal opinion" on this issue, and see how it stacks up in comparison to the statement from the Heirloom Masonic Bible. First, let’s go back to the statement that appears in the Heirloom Masonic Bible. Here it is:

"Raised - What is the significance of this term?

A. When a candidate has received the Third Degree, he is said to have been "raised" to the Sublime Degree of a Master Mason. Literally, this refers to a portion of the ceremony; but more significantly, it refers symbolically to the resurrection, which is exemplified as the object of the degree."

Okay now, from Mackey’s Encyclopaedia of Freemasonry:

"Raised. When a candidate has received the third degree, he is said to have been "raised" to the sublime degree of a Master Mason. The expression refers, materially, to a portion of the ceremony of initiation, but symbolically, to the resurrection, which it is the object of the degree to exemplify."

It looks as though the Heirloom Masonic Bible might as well have quoted directly from Mackey;s ‘Encyclopaedia…’, doesn’t it? But we must remember the arguments from the defenders of the faith - Masonic faith, that is - in regards to alleged "personal opinions", right? So, let’s see what something a little more official has to say on the subject.

"Q. Why is it said that a candidate is "raised" to the Sublime Degree of Master Mason? A. This expression refers MATERIALLY to a portion of the ceremony of the Third Degree, but SYMBOLICALLY it represents a resurrection after death and a Mason’s faith in immortality."

The only noteworthy difference I see between what was said in the previous publications, and what is stated here, is the official documents addition of the term,"and a Mason’s faith in immortality." Continuing with this same publication’s remarks on the matter:

"Here is the SUBLIME climax of the symbolic Degrees, and if a Brother misses its meaning, and sees the living, dying and "raising" of the Master only as a literal drama - designed to teach the virtues of fortitude and inflexible fidelity - he has found Light but partially. To him the Sublime Degree is no more than a theatrical play with a moral."

Similarly, we find this statement in Nevada’s Officers’ Manual…, page 95, under the heading, "Hiramic Legend":

"The tragedy of Hiram Abif is the climax of the Master Mason degree, the essence of Freemasonry, the foundation of its philosophy. To understand its symbolism is to understand Masonry; to miss its significance is to remain forever in outer darkness."

Translation? There is tremendously more to it than the explanation given to the newly raised Master Mason in the lecture that it is a lesson in courage in trust.

Allegory: "a long and complicated story with an underlying meaning different from the surface meaning of the story itself."

Surface meaning: A lesson in courage and trust.

Underlying meaning: Death, burial, and resurrection of the candidate. Baptism into the religion of Freemasonry.

In answer to the question of the significance of the term "Raised", as previously quoted from the Heirloom Masonic Bible, you will recall the notation at the end that simply said, "See Resurrection". Let’s take a look at what it has to say about "Resurrection". On that same page 55, one column over, we find this:

"Resurrection - Does Freemasonry teach that the body shall be raised and given eternal existence.

A. The doctrine of the resurrection of the body to a future and eternal life constitutes an essential dogma of the religious faith of Freemasonry.The requirement for adherence to this doctrine holds equal rank with the demand for belief in Deity and in the immortality of the soul. It is more authoritatively inculcated in the symbolism of the Third Degree than is possible by any dogmatic creed. Throughout the ritualisms, symbolisms, legends, and lectures of the Order, these doctrines are affirmed."

Now, that is quite a mouthful for an organization that denies being a religion. We have "essential dogma", "doctrine", something that is even more authoritatively inculcated than any "dogmatic creed" - All in reference to what? "the religious faith of Freemasonry".I told you earlier you would be hearing that phrase again, and there it is.

Enough said on this subject.

We now have two additional areas to consider in regards to the Hiramic Legend: First of all, and this is very important, Its origin; secondly, and equally important, its purpose.

Is Jesus Christ represented in Masonic Ritual?Some will attempt to tell you that the "raising", or resurrection of the candidate, is somehow symbolic of, or related to, the resurrection of Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, the Heirloom Masonic Bible makes a feeble attempt at this. Well, if this ceremony is intended to be somehow representative of the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, why don’t they say so? If this ceremony of theirs is actually a Christian baptism, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, why don’t they do it that way?

Not a word about it in any of their rituals; not a word about it in any of their monitors, and these are the official documents regarded as the sources of all the teachings of Freemasonry, yet you cannot find one single word about the Hiramic Legend having anything whatever to do with any Christian ceremony of a similar nature.

Rather, upon examination of official grand lodge documents, what we DO find, is statements of this nature:

"The Hiramic legend is believed to have been a part of Freemasonry at least as early as 1725, but the idea that lies behind it is as old as religious thinking among men. The same elements existed in the allegorical ceremonies of those ancient religions which we refer to collectively as the Ancient Mysteries."(Nevada’s Officers’ Manual…, p. 96)

I don’t see any mention here of Christianity. Only something called the Ancient Mysteries. And what does Mr. Mackey have to say about the Ancient Mysteries?

"Each of the Pagan gods …… had, besides the public and open, a secret worship paid to him, to which none were admitted but those who had been selected by preparatory ceremonies called initiation. This secret worship was termed the Mysteries."(Ancient Mysteries -Mackey's Encyclopedia of Freemasonry)

Secret Worship?! This is supposed to somehow have something to do with Jesus Christ? This is supposed to somehow have something to do with some sort of Judeo-Christian ceremonies? I don’t think so.

‘Jesus answered him, ‘I have spoken openly to the world; I always taught in synagogues, and in the temple where all the Jews come together; and I spoke nothing in secret’." (John 18:20)

Were the baptisms performed by John the Baptist done in secret? How secret do you suppose the Sermon on the Mount was?

No, my friends, they did not learn their secrets from our Lord and Savior - they did not learn their secrecy from any sort of Judeo-Christian practice. They learned their secrecy from the Ancient Mysteries.

Mr. Mackey goes on to say:

"The most important of these mysteries were the Osiric in Egypt, the Mithraic in Persia, the Cabiric in Thrace, the Adonisian in Syria, the Dionysiac and Eleusinian in Greece, the Scandinavian among the Gothic nations, and the Druidical among the Celts."

Isis, Osiris, Dionysus? Obviously, yes. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? Obviously, not. Equally obvious, Freemasonry has a great deal to do with the Ancient Mysteries.

From the Book of Constitutions, Grand Lodge of South Carolina, page 144:

"The legend of the third degree has been considered of so much importance that it has been preserved in the symbolism of every Masonic rite. No matter what modifications or alterations the general system may have undergone - no matter how much the ingenuity or the imagination of the founders of rites may have perverted or corrupted other symbols, abolishing the old, and substituting new ones - the legend of the Temple Builder has ever been left untouched, to present itself in all the integrity of its ancient mythical form.

"The idea of the legend was undoubtedly borrowed from the Ancient Mysteries, where the lesson was the same as that now conveyed in the third degree of Masonry."

"The drama emphasizes that the man of evil within us can neither be trained nor educated out of us. He must die, so that the good man in us may live. Man’s base and imperfect disposition must perish utterly if his higher will is to triumph. As every man must lay down his natural life to achieve immortality, so must the candidate, if he is ever to become a Master Mason in reality, lay down his life of ignorance, of passions, of the desire to do whatever is base or ignoble.

"Viewed in this light, the drama of Hiram the Builder is a symbol of redemption - and redemption is the central theme of this degree."Raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular" suggests far more than a physical accomplishment."

Indeed it does.

And from the Lodge Manual of North Carolina, page 52:

"The important part of the degree is to symbolize the great doctrines of the resurrection of the body and the immortality of the soul; and hence it has been remarked by a learned writer of our Order that ‘the Master Mason represents a man saved from the grave of iniquity and raised to the faith of salvation’."

One Grand Lodge jurisdiction says "redemption" - another says "salvation" - leaving us with yet one more word to define:

From the World Book Dictionary:

redemption: a redeeming; a being redeemed; deliverance, rescue; deliverance from sin; salvation."

"It was the single object of all the ancient rites and mysteries practiced in the very bosom of pagan darkness,….to teach the immortality of the soul. This is still the great design of the third degree of Masonry. This is the scope and aim of its ritual. The Master Mason represents man, when youth, manhood, old age, and life itself have passed away as fleeting shadows, yet raised from the grave of iniquity, and quickened into another and a better existence. By its legend and all its ritual, it is implied that we have been redeemed from the death of sin and the sepulchre of pollution"

Joseph Fort Newton wrote a book titled, The Builders, A story and Study of Freemasonry’. It has been called:

"The ablest and most inspiring one-volume work in the literature of the Craft."

This book was originally published in 1914, and most recently was copyrighted and published by the Macoy Publishing & Masonic Supply Company. On page 9 ofMacoy’s catalog #124, we are told:

"Many Grand Lodges present a copy to each newly raised Mason."

Mr. Newton relates to us in his foreword:

"…I wrote The Builders, at the request of the Grand Lodge of Iowa."

In more detail, we find this on page xxi of the section titled, "The Anteroom":

"Written as a commission from the Grand Lodge of Iowa, and approved by that Grand body, a copy of this book is to be presented to every man upon whom the degree of Master Mason is conferred within this Grand Jurisdiction."

Folks, that’s as official as it gets.

And regarding the Hiramic Legend, Mr. Newton tells us this on pages 270-71 of the 1979 edition:

"How many Masons fail to grasp the master truth of the Master Degree! And yet the candidate is not altogether to blame, since the historical lecture does not even mention it, much less expound it. That lecture only reminds the candidate that Masonry cherishes the hope of a glorious immortality - that is all. Whereas in the degree itself immortality is not a vague hope to be cherished here and realized hereafter. It is a present reality into which the candidate is symbolically initiated; a fact to be realized here and now. If our ritual does not convey this truth, it behooves us to see that it does, first by laying hold of the truth ourselves, and second by so shaping our ceremony, or at least by so explaining it, as to make the truth unmistakable. Manifestly, if we are immortal at all, we are immortal now, and to know that fact is the one great human experience."

In what can only be considered as an extremely critical statement, Mr. Newton, through The Builders, has been pleading with the Craft since 1914 to PLEASE tell the truth to its initiates!!! To PLEASE, no longer VEIL the truth, but openly REVEAL it, as he says, "…as to make the truth unmistakable."

I have been pleading with the Craft for the entire 14 years since I left the lodge to PLEASE, at least be honest with your own membership!!! But so far, this same plea which Mr. Newton first penned in 1914 continues to fall on deaf ears. As far as I am concerned, by the official documents I have referred to, the truth is there to be found, if a member of the Order digs for it, but what do they continue to teach in the lectures?:

"You, my Brother, have this evening represented that cunning workman who fell a martyr to his integrity and inflexible fidelity." (Nevada Ritual, p. 141)

To this very day, in the lecture appertaining to the Hiramic Legend, that is still all they are telling you about it. It continues to this day to be "veiled in allegory", as opposed to Mr. Newton’s plea, "…to make the truth unmistakable."

If it is the intent of the Craft, by its various monitors, to make the truth unmistakable, the Craft has failed miserably in its endeavors. To this day, virtually every single Mason I have ever debated this matter with, either refuses to admit the truth, thereby deliberately lying in a feeble attempt to defend the honor of the lodge - there’s an irony for you - or is so totally ignorant of the facts that he doesn’t know the truth himself. In either case, the circumstances are deplorable and totally devoid of principals and honor.. Because either the member is lying or the lodge is deliberately lying to the member and he is nothing more than an unknowing pawn.

Please care for those men who are being misled by the lodge. Please love them. Please pray for them. Please talk to them. But do not allow them to corrupt, destroy, or dilute the teachings of a Church of the Living God. The body of Christ is HIS church, not the lodge’s.

Heed the warnings spoken to the church at Pergamum: "You have there some who hold the teachings of Balaam, …" Don’t you EVER allow a House of God to become a temple of Baal!

If members of your congregation want to do battle in defense of Freemasonry, and threaten to lay siege upon the offering plate because you choose to not co-exist with the pagan teachings of non-believers, then you should let them walk right out the door and take their checkbooks with them. The apostles did not need Judas’ 30 pieces of silver to finance their ministries, and neither does this church.

You stand behind that preacher man who has the strength and the courage to stand up to Freemasonry and its false prophets. Don’t you ever turn your back on him, because all he’s doing is exactly what he is supposed to do - he is standing on the Written Word of God and tending to his flock in accordance with its teachings. And as long as he continues to do so, you back him all the way, because as long as he is standing on God’s Infallible Word, he’s going to tell you the truth, and that is the truth that sets you free.

God bless you.

Duane WashumEx-Mason for JesusPast Master - Vegas Lodge #32

John 11 King James Version (KJV)

11 Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.)

27 She saith unto him, Yea, Lord: I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.

28 And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, The Master is come, and calleth for thee.

29 As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto him.

30 Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met him.

31 The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, She goeth unto the grave to weep there.

32 Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw him, she fell down at his feet, saying unto him, Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

33 When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.

34 And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see.

35 Jesus wept.

36 Then said the Jews, Behold how he loved him!

37 And some of them said, Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?

38 Jesus therefore again groaning in himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it.

39 Jesus said, Take ye away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.

40 Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?

41 Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me.

42 And I knew that thou hearest me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me.

43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.

44 And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

45 Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him.

46 But some of them went their ways to the Pharisees, and told them what things Jesus had done.

47 Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles.

48 If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation.

49 And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all,

50 Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not.

51 And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation;

52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.

53 Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

54 Jesus therefore walked no more openly among the Jews; but went thence unto a country near to the wilderness, into a city called Ephraim, and there continued with his disciples.

55 And the Jews' passover was nigh at hand: and many went out of the country up to Jerusalem before the passover, to purify themselves.

56 Then sought they for Jesus, and spake among themselves, as they stood in the temple, What think ye, that he will not come to the feast?

57 Now both the chief priests and the Pharisees had given a commandment, that, if any man knew where he were, he should shew it, that they might take him.

They repaired to the grave, when King Solomon ordered one of the Fellow Crafts to take the body by the Entered Apprentice grip, and see if it could be raised; but, on account of its high state of decomposition, it could not be raised--the flesh cleaved from the bone.King Solomon then ordered them to take it by the Fellow Craft grip; but on trial, for the reason before given, the Fellow Craft's grip failed to benefit any--it could not be raised.King Solomon then exclaimed:"O Lord my God, I fear the Master's word is forever lost! My brother of Tyre, what shall we do? Let us pray."

After prayer, King Solomon took the body by the strong grip of a Master Mason, or lion's paw, and raised it on the five points of fellowship, which have been explained to you. The body was then carried to the Temple for a more decent burial, and was interred in due form.